I’ve almost come to the end of my review of what I saw on my trip round Britannia a few days ago. This final post will cover some lounges and other rooms that so far I’ve missed.

The Crows Nest and other nearby spaces

The previous post about my visit to Britannia covered the open decks. Let’s stay up near the top of the ship and look at some internal spaces in that area, starting with the Crows Nest and the rooms immediately adjacent to it.

Library

Crows Nest – Bar

The Gym

Crows Nest – port side

Crows Nest – forward

The Marlow room

The Crows Nest itself is an excellent room, looking very spacious and inviting. I think this will be a wonderful place to while away some hours during the daytime. The bar will be majoring on gin – there are supposed to be 20 gins available, including a number of ‘artisan gins’, plus a range of mixers. In the evening it will become a “sophisticated cocktail lounge” with a resident pianist. This is the bit I’m not sure about – I’ve seen the Crows Nest on Arcadia used as a cocktail bar and I’m not sure it works very well – the bar isn’t the focal point and it all looks a bit like a barn. I have a feeling that it won’t quite replicate the two late-night bars on Ventura and Azura, Metropolis and the Planet Bar, both of which I like a lot. But I could be wrong; I shall have to try it out some time. But well done P&O for creating this space – the Princess near-sisters (Royal and Regal Princesses) simply have cabins in this area. I suppose, also, that you could describe this as offering something to the traditional P&O passengers, who love the Crows Nests on Oriana, Aurora and Arcadia.

Close by are some other rooms. There’s the Ivory Suite which is where I had assumed weddings at sea would be conducted, except that they can’t do weddings on Britannia, at least not at the moment; the Marlow Room, which is basically a card room; and the Library. I took pictures of the latter two and they’re shown above.

Also in this area – just aft of the Ivory Suite – is The Epicurean restaurant, which I covered in an earlier post.

Also on a high deck (Deck 17, the Sun deck) is the gym. Interestingly it’s right next door to the Cookery Club. Are you supposed to head for the gym after being in the Cookery Club? Whatever the answer, I feel that this will be one of Britannia’s lesser-used spaces.

Lower deck lounges and the theatre

Headliners Theatre

Headliners Theatre

The Live Lounge

On the lower decks are some further lounges and entertainment spaces that I haven’t mentioned. On deck 7, aft, is the Live Lounge. This will perform the same function as Manhattan on Azura and Havana on Ventura, and indeed the expected acts sound the same: vocalists, bands, comedians and tribute acts. I think this is a better room than either of the spaces on those other ships – I was always unsure about the seating booths with very high dividers, so you were in fact forced to watch the act via one of the video monitors that were liberally scattered around. And the colour of the lighting always used to make me feel ill as well…. so I think this room is an improvement. Going forward on deck 7 is The Studio. This is described as “a multi-purpose, state-of-the-art entertainment venue, which resembles a TV studio”. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a picture (although we did visit it) – it was simply too dark in there. It sounds as if this will perform the same function as Malabar on Azura and The Tamarind Club on Ventura: talks, guest speakers, cookery demonstrations or a film during the day, and music (of various sorts) during the evening. Unlike the two lounges on the other ships, the Live Lounge is separated from the main passenger corridor that runs along deck 7 – in the case of the Live Lounge you’ve definitely got to go through a door to get into it instead of just walking up a couple of steps. I had a feeling that it was smaller than the other ships’ lounges that I mentioned, too. But I never really ‘got’ those lounges on the other ships, so I’m happy to believe that this one will do better.

Finally we come to the Headliners Theatre, all the way forward on decks 6 and 7. I don’t think there’s a lot to say about this – it’s a theatre, and we’re all familiar with them from the other ships. There are apparently a lot of high-tech effects available, including “… an LED screen wall which provides a change of scenery in the blink of an eye”. Again I got the feeling that it might be slightly smaller than the theatres on Azura and Ventura, which is odd given that Britannia is bigger. I’m prepared to be persuaded that I’m wrong, however. And I believe that there are some new productions! – at least, I don’t remember the following productions on other ships: “The Sound of the Underground”; “Gravity”‘ “Once upon a Time”; and “I’ve got the music in me”. (If I’m wrong and they are current shows on other ships, perhaps someone could let me know via a comment.)

So that’s it. I hope all my readers have enjoyed this tour around Britannia, and I’ll be happy to respond to any comments that reads may have. Now all we have to do is cruise on her.

Looking at the deck plans very carefully, I think the one we looked into and of which I took pictures was B429. The other accessible cabins on B & C decks – and there aren’t many, are there? – are the same size as that one. However I’ve spotted a couple of accessible cabins way down on F deck, F724 & F725, and they look to be smaller.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with Janet. Your blog is informative, honest & by far the best I’ve read thus far. Thank you.
I will be travelling on Britannia in September, in the Med, for 11 nights, taking Mum who is limited mobility. Your comment about there not being many accessible rooms is spot on. We were unable to book one, all gone! However, due to the nature of the ‘standard’ cabin we were left with, (NOT specifically an accessible one) she isn’t allowed her mobility scooter. Mum can manage with a stick & my arm, so we have gone for a twin cabin with sofa & a walk in shower, (the only one you couldn’t photograph, lol) on D deck & I’m sure we’ll be happy with that.
Being such a huge ship, with so much choice onboard, we aren’t worried about the balcony size at all! We can’t understand why one would book onto such a magnificent vessel & spend hours in your room (unless you are a nude sunbather & even that wouldn’t be possible due to visibility from next door!? Besides, I’d be walking the plank for putting so many guests off their evening meal, they’d never eat chicken again!) We’ll be out there on the decks, soaking up the sun & bopping with the ‘spontaneous dancers’ no doubt.
Thank you again for all the brilliant info & photographs, x